Centripetal Courtship
by practicingproductivity
Summary: Anise has a question for Jade, one he is in no rush to answer. But he reluctantly finds himself warming to the idea that the inevitable outcome of this little dance of theirs might be a pleasant one. Adult!Anise.


**A/N:** So Anise is an adult in this fic. You can take this to mean in takes place several years after the game, or in an alternate universe in which Anise was older than 13 during the events of the game. I hope you enjoy! (And no, the question is not the one she asks in the first line. It's the broader question lol)

-o-o-o-o-o-

"So, Colonel," Anise began in a conversational tone, toying with her salad, "are you asexual?"

Without the tiniest flicker of change in his expression, that man across the table replied evenly, "Am I a sexual what?"

Anise heaved a sigh. "I should have known you would dodge that one." She forked a crouton into her mouth, grinding her frustration down on it. The crunch deafened some of the chatter around her from the other cafe patrons.

"May I ask what brought this question on? Assuming I want to know the answer." Jade laced his fingers together, resting his hands on the table. "And I'm not sure I do."

Anise's jaw stopped. She swallowed. She hadn't originally been expecting him to actually acknowledge the question, let alone pursue this topic of conversation. "I asked you a question first."

"You did."

Anise narrowed her eyes. He obviously wasn't going to answer her that easily. She shifted in her chair, the seat suddenly hard and uncomfortable. "Boo, fine. I'll answer yours if you answer mine."

Jade regarded her calmly over the rim of his cup as he took a sip of tea. One of his brows was quirked a fraction above the other, betraying his curiosity. Anise tried to use that observation to bolster her confidence.

When he looked at her like that, his intense red gaze all on her, it made her a little weak. It made her feel... _things._ Things she hoped he felt too, but she could never tell with him. He always kept everyone at arm's reach.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "It's been, what, a little over a month? Since we started doing this, whatever 'this' is. What is it, by the way?" She gestured vaguely at the table, and at the cafe they sat in.

"Lunch," Jade clarified helpfully.

Anise rolled her eyes.

"I fail to see what lunch has to do with my sexuality," he added.

She slapped her palm into her forehead, and slowly dragged her hand down the length of her face. She suppressed a groan. "Everything about these lunches screams 'date' to me. You always insist on paying. You always somehow have time for more, more than you seemed to in the past. You walk me home. Just the other day when we shared an umbrella and I held your arm, you put your hand over mine. And yet... that seems to be where the romance ends."

Jade blinked at her for several long seconds. He took another infuriatingly calm sip of his tea. "So let me get this straight: you want to know if I'm asexual because I haven't tried to take you to bed. That's an awfully narcissistic and narrow-minded way to look at it."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Anise grumbled, her cheeks turning pink. She slid forward, sinking into her chair. Her knees bumped his beneath the table and she jerked herself upright again. "But it's not like I see you making moves on anyone else either."

"Your logic is flawed, I think. Maybe I'm just a private person. Maybe I am just not interested in having sex. Sexuality is not inherently linked to romance. Maybe I am just not interested in you. Maybe I am not romantically interested in anyone." He tilted his head to the side, intrigued rather than irritated.

"I wasn't trying to be narcissistic. I guess I just hoped at least two of those possibilities weren't the case." The heat in Anise's cheeks colonized the rest of her face. She turned her shoulder to him, instead speaking to their reflections in the window. "There, I said it."

She could feel Jade watching her intently.

"I see," he replied slowly. "Well, I would hate to disappoint."

Anise whirled to face him again, her eyes wide, ears strained – unsure of what she'd just heard. Was that supposed to be his version of a confession?

"So... does that make this a date?" she asked cautiously.

"You would be welcome to interpret it that way."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"I didn't say either way, only that your are free to interpret it how you like."

A devilish grin splits across Anise's face. "Well, in that case, I say it's a date."

And if she weren't mistaken, she caught the corner of Jade's mouth twitch upwards into the tiniest of smiles.


End file.
